Ana Morales is losing sleep over Caltrain. She used to get up at 5 a.m. to walk to the 5:30 a.m. train at the Broadway station in Burlingame. Now that the station is closed on weekdays, the San Francisco police officer has to get up at 4:30 a.m. and walk a mile to the Millbrae station to get to her shift on time. "The Caltrain shuttle from Broadway doesn't come that early," she explains. Nor does it run in the mid-afternoon, so she walks another mile home.

Judi Allen would like to take public transit from her Belmont home to her volunteer job as a cancer patient advocate at UCSF's Mount Zion campus, but it would take her at least two hours each way. Her day would begin with a brisk, 30-minute walk from the Alameda to the Belmont train station, where one train an hour runs to San Francisco during commute times. Fifty minutes later, she would need to catch a bus across town. Instead, she goes through a tank of gas every few days and pays $1.75 every 20 minutes to park.

The Caltrain schedule on the Peninsula, which emphasizes "Baby Bullet" express trains, is built around the philosophy that speed is more important than convenience. There's no question that the "reinvented" schedule emphasizing express trains has attracted new customers and has helped narrow Caltrain's shortfall from $13.5 million in 2005 to the current $5 million deficit. But other factors such as higher gas prices, more congested highways and the improved economy also account for increases in passenger counts. Ridership is up nationwide. The American Public Transportation System recently reported that Americans took more trips on local public transportation in 2006 than during any year since 1957.

At a time when people are eager to help the planet by getting out of their cars, Caltrain is failing to serve passengers who want convenience. Trains that used to come every 30 minutes during commute times now come only once an hour, weekday service has been suspended at two stations and shuttles only function during peak hours. It's impossible to travel between some points, such as Belmont and Sunnyvale, during commute times.

Eleven current and former City Council members from San Mateo County believe it is time to revisit Caltrain's schedule so that it better meets the needs of passengers and attracts more riders. It is entirely possible to add back some stops with minimal impact to express trains and provide more local service along with Baby Bullet trains. The Coalition to Expand Transit Service is urging city councils throughout San Mateo County to ask Caltrain to retain an outside consultant to optimize the schedule, to complete promised safety improvements and to work together with cities to improve connectivity among transit services.

Instead of moving toward a model of a few transit hubs ringed with acres of concrete and huge parking structures, we envision pedestrian-friendly transit in the heart of our cities. That's the model that has served the Peninsula well for more than 100 years. On the Peninsula, we have been transit oriented far longer than the term "transit-oriented development" was coined. As cities lose transit, they also lose their ability to attract new development near transit corridors, and businesses and residents in the vicinity suffer.

How much is public transit worth? An economic development consultant hired by Burlingame last year estimated the value of the land within a half-mile radius of our Burlingame Avenue train station as being worth $100 million more due to its proximity to the station.

Businesses prize loyal customers and go to great lengths to keep them, but Caltrain officials made drastic schedule changes without the benefit of market research. They did not survey riders before putting the current schedule into effect in August 2005, so it's impossible to know how many riders flocked to Caltrain -- or abandoned it -- because of the emphasis on express trains.

Most of the small cities absorbing the burden of reduced and sporadic service are in San Mateo County. Since 2000, San Mateo County has lost 193 weekday stops (a 20 percent loss), compared to Santa Clara's loss of 97 stops (a 13 percent decrease) and San Francisco's gain of three stops (a 2 percent increase). Yet San Mateo County rescued the train in 1991 by advancing what now amounts to $85 million toward the purchase of the rail right-of-way. That loan has never been repaid.

If the emphasis on speed continues, it is only a matter of time before more stations will be closed. Caltrain has been systematically driving riders toward Baby Bullet stations for years. For example, in 2001 the Broadway station in Burlingame had a healthy ridership of 567 boardings per day. Sixty-three percent of riders walked to the station and 5 percent arrived on bikes. Then Caltrain took away express service. Next it reduced service to once an hour. When the passenger count dropped to 205 in 2005, it had an excuse to close the station on weekdays. One wonders which station Caltrain will target next.

It's time to take the politics out of transportation on the Peninsula and do an impartial analysis to create a schedule that provides optimal train service to people who value convenience as well as speed. Please urge council members in San Mateo County to support our resolution.